Kenai has seen an increase of snowfall and it has come with repercussions, like snow removal.
Residents of Kenai have been reminded that it is illegal to push snow from personal property on to city streets and it is proposed that an ordinance be made for residents to move their cars from the route that snow operators need to address in the winter months.
City Manager, Paul Ostrander addresses the increase of calls due to the heavy snowfall stating,
“What my street foreman said was that the first snow of the year was the biggest snow event they had ever seen. When we had that on the 26th of October, that day, public works received 42 calls complaining about snow removal. The next day we got 32 calls , which was the day we finally got on top of it. It actually took us two days to full days to clear the city streets. Primarily because that first snow fall was not only 10″ or 11″ but it was extraordinarily heavy snow and its really difficult to manage when it’s heavy like that.”
After some discussion from the Council, it was recognized that something needs to be done to eliminate the snow and specifically the snow berms at the end of people’s driveways.
Council Member Teea Winger addresses the reality of the situation stating,
” I think some of the issues we’ve heard from people, at least that I’ve heard from people about berms, snow berms are an issue for a lot of these people. I mean it’s not maybe at the first part of the neighborhood-it’s only a little something that maybe a car could drive over; but when you get five blocks down the road you’ve got a two foot berm. I can say we’ve got a high rate of seniors in pour community and people with disabilities. You and I can go clear a berm or maybe help our neighbors clear a berm; these people aren’t able to so I think that’s the consideration is it’s not just people that can’t go out or not wanting to got out and do berms. We actually have a high rate senior rate and disability rate so with that factor it is something that we have to be mindful and every complaint, every voice does matter. The reasons why this is happening snow loads being one of them having equipment following them to clean it up.”
The Kenai City Council are hearing the comments from the public and are discussing the options for snow removal. However, it is important that the public has realistic expectations.
Ostrander express appreciation for the street crews,
“You know I will say that our street crews are highly trained and highly capable individuals. And they work extraordinarily hard, I mean they take the commitment to clearing our city streets personally. If we have a snow event there out one o’clock, two o’clock in the morning and they’ll work long, long hours just trying to get through the streets everyday. You know one of the things we need to do is align the publics expectations with what is realistic. You know we live in Alaska, it’s cold here, it snows here, sometimes it snows a lot here. And it’s not reasonable to think that we are going to be able all the roads perfectly cleared within twenty four hours, we don’t have the resources to do that. So, trying to get the public expectations inline with what is realistic is something that is important and something that I think we need to work to do a better job of. I know that Mr. Curtain is working on a snow removal policy that we hope can help in that regard, but I think there is more work to be done there as well.”
The options that have been discussed by the Council are having a contractor help with the workload, temporaries or on call positions.
There are many factors into this decision such as the safety of the street crew, time spans, funding, aging equipment, and difficulty of hiring.
Even with the position, there is a clearsighted expectation when it comes to snowfall in Alaska. The Kenai City Council shows concern for the repercussions, and they are working to address these issues.
